Warriors Academy players spend time at Harrop Fold School and with the British Army

Group visits Harrop Fold School in Walkden as seen on Educating Greater Manchester and meet with head teacher Drew Povey

Under-19s players then head to Ripon, North Yorkshire, to the home of 21 Engineer Regiment, Royal Engineers for a Leadership Camp

Wigan Warriors Under-19s players have spent time developing their leadership skills with the help of a famous School Head Teacher and the British Army!

Four members of the Warriors Under-19s squad along with Darrell Goulding and Archie Taylor, Warriors’ Leadership and Team Building Coach, recently visited Harrop Fold High School which was made famous for having recently featured on Channel 4’s documentary television series Educating Greater Manchester.

The group met with head teacher, Drew Povey, who shared his views, beliefs and philosophies on leadership and also took questions from the group.

Under-19s Head Coach, Darrell Goulding said: “It was impressive to see the School environment and how it operates in the face of adversity and is still defying the odds which is down to the passionate and motivated staff combined with the excellent leadership skills of Drew Povey. The day developed and challenged the players’ and staff’s thinking and was hugely beneficial to all involved.”

Later that day the Under-19s squad travelled to Ripon, North Yorkshire, to the home of 21 Engineer Regiment, Royal Engineers for their annual pre-season Leadership camp, an element of the club’s established leadership pathway programme.

The weekend, which was designed by Archie Taylor primarily focused on developing the player’s leadership skills. The players completed a mixture of mental and physical challenges that developed and tested their leadership skills, resilience and decision making ability whilst in unfamiliar and pressure situations.

The players learnt valuable skills such as adapting different styles of leadership, how to effectively change their plan during the task and how to lead the evaluation process in order to understand and improve performance.

Continuing, Darrell said: “All of the skills the player’s have learnt transfer perfectly to the rugby field and will enable them to make better decisions as leaders in rugby and in general life.

“The more effective leaders we can have in our squad, the better our team will be when under pressure. The club believes leadership to be a very important aspect of being a Warrior and the work that Archie is doing with the club is having a greater effect year upon year.

“I’d like to thank everyone who made the weekend possible, including the enduring support from 21 Engineer Regiment. It was very rewarding for all involved and it will benefit the club immediately and even more so in the future.”